Wink Martindale showed Friday that he can handle a blitz just as well as he can design one.

Speaking to reporters for the first time since a Fox Sports report published on Nov. 26 indicated that escalating tensions between he and Giants head coach Brian Daboll could lead to his ouster before the end of the season, Martindale said he hopes to remain on as defensive coordinator in 2024 to see through what is being built.

“This organization … is not a stepping stone,” Martindale said. “It’s a destination.”

Asked if his relationship with Daboll is in “a bad place,” as was reported, Martindale didn’t try to paint an overly rosy picture.

He avoided the company line about fighting over the last slice of pizza that Daboll and several players have recited, but said “there’s nothing that’s happened.”

“We’re fine,” Martindale said. “It’s the same thing as it was last year. It was just different because we were winning more games. It’s different every place you go — the relationship with the head coach and the defensive coordinator or assistants — especially when it’s new.”

The sense around the Giants is that Daboll’s reputation as a screamer on the sidelines and behind closed doors does not sit well with accomplished assistants like Martindale.

Another way they are different is Daboll’s commitment to keeping everything in-house and Martindale’s willingness to be transparent.

“I think that the cookie-cutter answer is we’re focused on Green Bay,” Martindale said, referencing Monday’s game against the Packers, “but I don’t ever give you cookie-cutter answers. This game always has been and always will be about the players. I want to keep it that way. I always say I owe the players my composure.”

Do Daboll and Martindale always see eye-to-eye on how to handle things?

“I don’t see eye-to-eye with my wife all the time,” Martindale quipped. “He’s the head coach and it’s my job to forward his plan. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Martindale reportedly wore out his welcome after four seasons as Ravens defensive coordinator under John Harbaugh before joining Daboll’s staff in 2022.

Daboll was looking for an out from the Bills because of a strained relationship with head coach Sean McDermott, according to details of a lawsuit filed by NFL coach Brian Flores.

In other words, it is not unusual for strong personalities to clash in the NFL.

Daboll previously skirted questions about Martindale’s future with the Giants, so will Martindale get his wish to stay?

“No one knows that,” Martindale said. “[I] have worked hard enough and long enough in this league that at the end of year, hopefully you have all kinds of choices. Might be grabbing my golf clubs and go play golf in Florida. Hopefully, it’s a raise … You just don’t know what’s going to happen. I can’t predict the future. I’m still here today.”

Martindale said he first learned of the then-hours-old report from Daboll on the field after the Giants beat the Patriots, 10-7, on the strength of three takeaways.

Daboll gave Martindale a game ball in the post-game locker room.

“He said, ‘There’s a report out that you and I aren’t getting along and you are going to be fired,’ ” Martindale said. “I said, ‘I don’t pay attention to that.’ I woke up Sunday morning (Nov. 19) in Washington and there was a Google alert on my phone: I saw the four replacements that they had for me here in New York. If you based your life on what you read, you’d be very miserable. I refuse to do that. We care too much about these players and their success and building a program here.”

Two weeks of speculation of Martindale’s future has detracted from the Giants’ two-game winning streak and the report “bothers you” at first, Martindale said.

He is not expecting any assurances from Daboll or the front office on job security.

“We haven’t even talked about it because to me that’s where it gets back to the players and winning this game,” said Martindale, whose players have voiced support for his leadership. “That means a lot. If you aren’t in the profession for that, you are in the wrong profession. If you make it about me instead of we, you are going down the wrong street.”